Braathens blir fossilfri - Avaition24.

 

BRA hires a new sustainability manager to become the world’s first net-zero airline

By

 André Orban

 -

11 September 2021

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BRA’s goal is to take the lead in the work towards a fossil-free domestic flight by 2030 and thus become one of the first airlines in the world to reach net-zero.

A couple of years ago, a roadmap was developed, in collaboration between the Swedish aviation industry and the government initiative Fossil-Free Sweden. A work that BRA was active in and since then several prominent initiatives have been realized by the company such as the establishment of a unit fleet with the world’s most fuel-efficient regional aircraft ATR72-600, the launch of biofuel tickets and climate compensation of more than the entire company’s fossil emissions.

This spring, the first BRA flights took off after the aviation industry’s biggest crisis since the Second World War. The period between the outbreak of the pandemic and the spring restart of air traffic has been challenging as all aircraft were on the ground for over a year. But that period has also meant great opportunities for BRA to work through the business and restart traffic with high flexibility and customer focus, slim costs but not least a more ambitious sustainability ambition than ever. BRA aims to halve the use of fossil fuels by 2025 and be completely fossil-free by 2030. In the autumn of 2021, BRA will formalize its plan to become the first airline to reach Net-Zero.

– We have been looking for someone who can lead BRA´’s solid adjustment work but also show the way for the entire industry. That is why I am happy to welcome Maria Fiskerud to us. She is a pioneer in the field of fossil-free aviation not only in Sweden but also globally. Under Maria’s leadership, we will now take the next step to see both how we can further reduce our own emissions, help our customers reduce theirs and place higher demands on our suppliers, says Ulrika Matsgård, CEO of BRA.

Maria Fiskerud will be part of BRA´’s management team and during the autumn work out science-based goals (SBT). Today, BRA works based on the 1.5-degree Business Playbook methodology. Maria is the founder of Clear Leadership and has written a book on change leadership. As CEO, she has built up the Fly Green Fund, an economic association with the task of kick-starting the Nordic market for bio-aviation fuel. In recent years, she has worked as a cluster leader for Fossil-Free Flight 2045 and project manager for the electric aviation projects Nordic Network for Electric Aviation and Electric Air Transport in Sweden at RISE Service Labs.

– It is time to dare to leave research and test arenas and start developing commercial solutions. Then it was also time for me to take that step. The transformation of the aviation industry will cost, but I am convinced that it will cost more if we do nothing. BRA, and the Nordic region, have the opportunity to be involved in driving development and I want to be part of that journey, says Maria Fiskerud, new head of sustainability at BRA.

Maria has been a consultant in sustainability at BRA since June and will take up her permanent position as Sustainability and Communications Manager on 20 September.